Free Grimm Consequences by Kate Serine Page B

grin that was far cockier than I felt. “Where’d they dig you up—if you’ll pardon the pun.”
    The first blow landed squarely on my jaw.
    Okay . . . no sense of humor for this one. Good to know.
    Over the ringing in my ears, I could hear Tess hurling a few choice words at my Judge. More disturbing was the chuffing and snorting of the Jabberwocky. Apparently, the blood and violence was making him eager for a little action.
    I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times. Nope, wasn’t broken. Yet. “That was a nice warm up, Junior,” I quipped with a jerk of my chin. “But could we move this along? I got places to be.”
    The next blow wasn’t nearly so easy to shake off. Or the next one. Through the double vision I had going on, I caught a glimpse of Tess struggling to get away from the Judges holding her, and managed to put together something resembling a grin, hoping it would assure her I was hanging in there.
    â€œNate!” she whimpered, her voice breaking as my captors lifted me to my feet, holding me up so Junior could get a better crack at me. His fist nailed me in the gut—once, twice. “Let him go, you bastards!”
    My bones snapped as the guy’s fist slammed into my ribs, sending a burst of pain through my lungs and down my spine. My knees buckled, sending me back to the ground. My captors released me, apparently figuring the fight had been knocked out of me at this point.
    I groaned as Junior’s size thirteen nailed me in the other side of my abdomen. With a gasp, I fell forward, landing in a heap on the asphalt. Through the pain-blurred haze, I could see Tess, latched onto her beloved face, focused on her eyes as the waves of agony crashed over me. I coughed, spewing blood from my lungs and bringing on a fresh onslaught of pure hell.
    â€œStop!” Tess raged. “That’s enough, you asshole! You’ll—”
    â€œKill him?” Demetrius interrupted. He shrugged. “That’s up to you, my dear. You decide his fate—right here, right now. If I take your lover away to suffer the rest of his punishment, I fear he may indeed die, his soul condemned to fiery torment for the rest of eternity. For you see, my girl, that’s how we Reapers die.”
    The Judges holding Tess dragged her forward and shoved her down to the ground beside me. She immediately scrambled over to me and reached out to touch me, her hand trembling as she gently brushed my blood-soaked hair from my battered face.
    â€œWe cannot be killed by the living,” Demetrius continued, crouching down beside her, his voice dripping with contrived sympathy as his filthy hand smoothed her hair. “But if another Reaper was to kill your lover, up close and personal, with his bare hands, well that’s the only way it can be done. And if there’s fire involved”—he shivered with orgasmic glee—“all the better!”
    Tess’s head snapped up and she pegged Demetrius with a murderous gaze. “You can go fuck yourself, you son of a bitch.” She wrapped her arms protectively around my head, cradling me against her. “There won’t be any more punishing today, Demetrius. You want to get to Nate, you’re going to have to pry him out of my cold, dead hands.”
    Demetrius shrugged. “Very well.” He snapped his fingers at his goons.
    â€œNo!” I cried, although it came out more like a moan than an actual word. “Tess . . .”
    Demetrius held up his hand, staying the Judges. “There is another way,” he told her, speaking over my attempts to form coherent speech. “Offer yourself in his place. Suffer his punishment instead.”
    I shook my head furiously, my heart seizing in panic. “Don’t,” I mumbled. “Let me go. . . .”
    â€œYou’ll leave him alone?” Tess demanded, ignoring my protestations. “You’ll let him live?”
    â€œOf